2015 High School Football Tour – Stop #48: Oxford

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OXFORD, Miss. (WCBI) — For Johnny Hill, coaching football has been his life for half a century. Fifty years of many victories and memories will tell the story of a tremendous career roaming the sidelines, and he’s ready for his ride into the sunset with the 2015 Oxford Chargers.

“It’s kind of new territory for me,” Hill said. “This is a special bunch of kids. I’m going through Christmas, then after that I will be on permanent spring break.”

It’s a very special group returning this season at Oxford High. D1 athletes are littered across the field, especially on offense with the likes of Jack Abraham at quarterback and D.K. Metcalf at receiver, both of whom were named to the Clarion-Ledger Dandy Dozen. That kind of talent makes coaching a not-so-difficult task for coach Hill.

“They are really a tough group to coach,” Hill said. “You have to be a good bus driver and keep them out of the ditch. They are a special bunch. We have our entire offensive line back which is a good group. Defensively we lost some linebackers and corners but we worked real hard this spring and we feel like we’re going to be pretty solid there too.”

All the talk going into the 2015 season will be about putting last year behind them. One win away from the school’s first state title has been the story to end the last two seasons. This year, the state title goes through Oxford, literally, as twelve schools will play for the Gold Ball in December at Vaught-Hemingway, less than two miles down the road from Bobby Holcomb Field.

“It will be a lot easier. We won’t have to travel so far. We would love to be in the first state championship game at Ole Miss,” Hill said. “But that’s way down the road. Don’t count your chickens before they hatch. We have a lot of football before that and you have to stay healthy and you have to play well or you will go home.”

Oxford will begin the season at home versus Southaven before taking the primetime ESPNU stage at Starkville the following week.